Suffering and Dr. Yonggi Cho’s Theology of the Cross

Abstract

This paper examines Dr. Cho’s concept of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ with reference to suffering of people, especially Christians. It shows that Dr. Yonggi Cho’s message of the cross develops from the backdrop of Pentecostals’ preaching about the cross. Pentecostals believe that miracles, healing and deliverance from afflictions are part of the biblical faith, practised by the Lord Jesus and the early church. Christians are, therefore, to continue with these; yet Christianity during the Enlightenment resorted to scientific solutions, neglecting almost completely prayer for divine intervention. The emergence of the Pentecostal movement in the 20th century, of which Yonggi Cho emerged, changed the trend. It is shown that Dr. Cho identifies himself with the suffering that came along with the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. In his early days, he experienced suffering in the forms of poverty and sickness. What took him out of poverty and suffering, he asserts, was the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ into his life as Lord and saviour. Cho believes that the crux of the Christian message-the gospel-is the cross. For him, all the answers to life’s problems can be found in the cross of Christ. However, as he says, believers must appropriate prosperity and deliverance by faith. The paper also briefly touches on Cho’s emphasis on faith which has been criticised by some scholars. It further demonstrates the balance that Cho brings to bear in his writings, as he shows that in his church the bothersome problem of some being healed and others not, occur. The paper ends by pointing to Cho’s paradoxical preaching of the cross, which must be understood in the context of the place of suffering within the biblical concept of the fall.